Part 53
Sitemap --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- - More interesting items/ideas for a Bioshock Rapture MMORPG --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- - ' Part 53' --- --- --- --- -- Weapons training for your character and your 'Team' NPCs : - Old fashioned shooting range stuff -- practice (a staple 'tutorial' for many gun shooting games...) - Physical training also is usually a good idea for adventurers (since you arent supposed to damage the Splicers to much, you will likely have to physically overpower them). - Group training for your 'Team' - probably will be available as 'training missions' for various tactics and coordination is key to success and not killing your own guys. - Skill development of NPCs (and your own character/avatar) - reality means that fixing a jammed gun is as critical as firing straight in a hectic situation. --- --- View to a Kill : First Person view is prefered as long as enough sensory cues (like sounds) for what is going on behind you (when theres no adaquate peripheral vision til we all have wrap around monitors) 3rd person view for 'Team coordination ??? - How to handle the 'junk/wall behind your figure' in the over the shoulder view (the fast auto zoom in-out done to avoid looking thru something can be so annoying it warrants demanding a refund - terrible way to mis-handle closed spaces in a game). Map views (with more filled in levels and multiple level paths than we had in those simplified/strung out BS1/BS2) - need a good 3D view of 'world' terrain maps. 'How to get somewhere' is not always so simple or obvious anymore. Various Detail views of inventory, workbench, machine mechanism, piles of wreckage/junk at your feet. Overlaid with variou sstatus indicators and command actuators (tiles) and interfaces --- --- --- Machines are a little more breakable in MMORPG : It was a limitation of the Solo games that many machines were not breakable (or hackable) and this would be different in the MMORPG. It might have added something to the game to make you try to avoid combat near machines you might need to use (we saw how combat next to Health Stations wrecked them). Many machines you now find will already be in that broken state from lack of maintenance, various violence or environmental damage. At least in this game, you have a chance to repair them. Supplies for the machines also can be 'run out' (meaning you have to find some and reload it). The City pays for such repaired machines to be moved within its boundries for the use of its Citizens. --- --- Little Brothers the Real Ones : Fontaine didnt seem to have any use for any 'Little Brothers' as they didnt help him get more ADAM (it was "Little Sisters Orphanages" not Little Childrens Orphanages), which should have raised some question in-game about why that might be (just one Audio Diary would have served) and what he might be upto (just like his murderous thuggery should have made him Public Enemy #1 almost immediately). But then, logic was not to get in the way of the Plot. So real (surviving) orphan 'boys' would be roaming the streets, hiding in dark corners, and perhaps some other people would make some orphanages for them, but wouldn't have the money to do on the scale Fontaine did. So these orphans psychological state would be about right for making them feral, and combined with ADAM that would make for an interesting outcome. --- --- Various 'Hacking' Tonics : Example- "Thrifty Hacker" - Were really something else (wouldnt have been originally marketed under those names). They likely were for repair abilities for people who built/maintained (and maybe operated) various types of machines. Such tonics could boost technical abilities (ie- more manual dexterity, or sensitivity to machines, mechanical aptitude) to make complicated mechanical or electrical work easier/more efficient. Later, after Rapture started going downhill, the people putting the Tonics in the machines may have started catering to the less ethical traits of buyers (notice that the Gatherers Garden machine cant be hacked...) In the MMORPG, the Players are no longer Splicers, so cannot use these Tonics. But Splicers they run into still can and many machines the Player encounters might not be passive towards them, and have to be dealt with (decision - do I shoot up that machine to stop it from trying to kill me; or do I handle it such that it can be collected as valuable loot ???) --- --- Unpleasant Things Locks Do : Thinking about the combination locks (4 digit) we operated in BS1/BS2, and that if you didnt do it right it did not do anything (like shock you a way to disuade someone else from sitting there all day trying all the combinations - it would have been 'different' for you to get only 3 digits and have to cycle thru the last one to find the right one -- or a clue that gave you all the digits, but not their proper order...). In the MMORPG we could have different locks for many different things. Splicers would use them to protect their possesions or part of their 'defenses' against you and other Splicers. Players would have them on the things they own (yes, there still is crime in New Rapture). Of course the Player could have his Avatar automatically unlock such things to keep it from becoming bothersome. Fabrication of such locks and skills/tools manipulating them would be another game element. As with all the rest of the MMORPG game Player Creators could come up with all kinds of odd (weird) mechanisms and effects for these locks the Players would encounter. This kind of thing also fits into the tablet/smartphone category of Mini-game activities. --- --- Clowns in Ryan Amusements : http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Jean-Paul_Beauregard A hint that maybe there had been more things there in that sparse looking Ryan Amusements than is evident, when we see it later (It struck me as being a bit too lame for anyone to seriously want to go there.) Various booths and carts and temporary things which would have disappeared/been removed over the years. Useful items like food carts, additional exhibits and attractions, etc... In my extended level map, I added a Penny Arcade and other things to make it a little more attractive as a destination. --- --- Baleen Whales dont belong at deep depths - they eat stuff at the surface : Buried at Sea is seen again -- no excuse. That kind of whale filters krill from the water at the surface. No need (waste) to go wandering around 600+ feet down. What ? They couldnt make an asset for a Sperm Whale (the type that DOES go down deep to hunt Giant Squid) ?? Paying proper attention to detail is the sign of a great game. Ditto for the Manta Rays you see in some of the preview footage. --- --- Duke and Dimwit machines for Rapture(MMORPG) : http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ps2BHB4.jpg Any of the old penny arcades had lots of games that were like this, and potentially could have been in Rapture (like a Penny Arcade I added in my Ryan Amusements extended map) Yet another kind of asset for players to create would be various arcades games (probably playable also on the offline handheld tablet/smartphone mode). Lots of Rapthure themed variations. Various Templates would be provided for game styles (like pinball maker as well as choreographed puppet shows, along wth more equivalents of the Epstein the Swami type, some very simple early computer games like Tennis(Pong), etc...) --- --- A Submarine is NOT like a Car : Its more like an airplane. If one of many complicated things goes significantly wrong, you die. If you skimp on maintenence you are not left at the side of the road, but like an airplane, you die. At Rapture's watery depths you are either crushed to death or drown, or asphyxiate via a malfunctioning air system. It is why, as misrepresented in the Bioshock game, "personal bathyspheres" did NOT take over from the Train System. They would remain the toys/extravagance of rich people who could afford their price and maintenance and extensive facilities requiresd to operat them. Even the public system would be too expensive for everyday use by the majority of Raptures population - who still needed a way to get around the City. The Trolley system as the train system replacement would provide the bulk of that. Bicycles would have their utility as well. The AE Train system would still likely remain as the major freight hauling system and for passengers heading out to the communities outside Rapture. --- --- That Race Form on Bookers Desk in Burial at Sea : Its not likely to be for Racing "On the Surface" (though clandestine radio receiving of such races might still be done) and Rapture is a bit small to have a Horse Racing industry big enough to support a proper (worth the while) regular/frequent betting environment. Slug Races ? A better fit. Lets see if they make it that way (doubt it, in 'Infinitized' Rapture). Rapture isnt exactly the right environment for Horse Racing. With things like fake/artificial beef, etc... which denotes lack of over-extensive grassland spaces for livestock in Rapture. Horses would be that much less likely - a few rich people's pets maybe.... --- --- "To The Tram" (seen in 'Burial At Sea' preview) 1958 - this would not have been the Atlantic Express 'To the Trains' we saw BS2, but most likely the Metro Trolley system, which as Ive mentioned before should have been an extensive system (versus taxi-like Bathyspheres) and not that pathetic/illogical representation/caricature they showed in BS1 around Olympus Heights and Apploo Square ((( See my extensions of those level maps))). --- --- 'Radar Range' ad seen in BaS preview : Microwave cooking - actually existed in the late 50s and were advertised on TV (Ronald Reagan made such an Ad). With Rapture technological advantages, it could have been a more widespread consumer item much sooner (even so, it is being shown as 'a big thing' as late as 1958 -- possibly a sign of it being consumerized in a much bigger way). --- --- Idea for Player Created Puzzle scenarios using Quest Generation : Player Creators create situations the Quest-taker has to solve in-game. Many of them to exist, with all different kinds of puzzles built in to them. Every game-making tool and trick/effect the players can think of is available for presenting the 'puzzle' situation within the in-game play environment. (Many may be largely interesting special effects). Names, identifiers and objects are randomized/genericized so Player cannot 'look up answer' on the internet. Combinatoric 'templated' elements would be used when possible to make the same scenario different - for different people or if ever repeated (if not in the puzzle itself, at least in appearance). The scenario is run with limited retries (possibly none) immediately and does not stop and cant be 'saved' (this is online after all) so Player has no time to 'look it up' and must make use of their real skill. Ratings of difficulty (and statistics of Player success) would be recorded to allow Players to request what relative difficulty level (some metric) they want to play and see then how they stand against other Players. As normal, full vetting is done before the scenario 'goes live'. Creation of each 'Scenario' has a point limit system for components to be included. Creators ramp up in scale of their scenario as they prove their skill to make more complex ones (prevents alot of trash assets from being pushed to the Creation Community that must vet these things). - I was again playing thru Far Cry 3 and was impressed by the tower climbing puzzles (effectively a 3 dimentional maze) - where you climb damaged cellphone towers to restore their operation, with a variety of visualizing/maneuvering you need to do to get to the top. The towers are damaged and have had ad hoc repairs, and THAT would fit right well within Raptures environment. In Rapture ... on/within machinery, climbing inside wall spaces/passages. Could have many additional actions of fixing things along-the-way and various maneuverbility 'tools' to assist passage (to add to the basic move/duck/climb/jump/leap actions). As expected in THIS game, many building-block templated subsections/props would allow combinatoric auto-generation of variations ( scripted logic to recombine the pieces sufficiently). --- --- --- --- 100 diferent endings .... Illustrate to them what real 'infinity' is : Should have had that scene at the end with Booker, and had upto 100 items in the room (just objects from the game - they dont have to interreact). Now just have it random whether each item is there or not, position really doesnt matter just that they are visible. 2^100 different combinations which is more than 10^30 (number with 30+ digits -- 1267650600228229401496703205376 ) --- --- Giant Squid keep eating our Biolumiescent Signs !! : In Rapture probably someones regular job was to keep these beasties at bay, and others to keep repairing the signs. Some sign owners may have invested in 'defenses' for their signs if they kept getting vandalized in this way. Think of how much calamari you could get out of a Giant Squid... --- --- Air System Network in Rapture : How did breathable air get around Rapture to come out of those vents the Little Sisters use? CO2 removal O2 addition - changing bad air into good (CO2 build up becomes toxic) Plants to recycle air - various genetic modifications to improve efficiency and also a useful byproduct of agriculture (which would have huge masses of growing plants - possibly too much requiring purposefully CREATING CO2 to make them grow) Surface intake/outlets - to draw fresh air into city Electrolosis (using electricity to split water into O2 and H2 (discarded or used on surface as fuel) - but that solution still requires a CO2 scrubber mechanism. Circulation pipes, fans, sensors/controls to move new air in and old air out to be renewed Safety systems (seals at bulkheads to block catastrophic flooding via the air channels) Utility system - sharing the utility network with heat/power/etc.. The air has to be distributed (both direction) to every corner of Rpature. The communities outside Rapture would need similar systems. --- --- --- . . .